Tri-Valley Conference (Wisconsin)


The Tri-Valley Conference is a former high school football conference with its membership concentrated in west central Wisconsin. Founded in 1953 and dissolved after the 1958 football season, the conference's member schools belonged to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association.

History

The Tri-Valley Conference was formed in 1953 by four small high schools in west central Wisconsin: Blair, Eleva-Strum, Independence and Onalaska. It was named after the three rivers that flowed through its catchment area. Three of the conference's original members belonged to the Trempealeau Valley Conference and Onalaska was a member of the Coulee Conference, neither of which sponsored football at that time. Melrose and Sacred Heart in Lima joined the Tri-Valley Conference for the 1955 season, bringing the roster to six schools. Sacred Heart only spent one season in the Tri-Valley Conference and were replaced by former Mississippi Valley Conference members Whitehall for the 1956 season. Just like the school they replaced, their time in the conference was short-lived and they returned to the MVC for the 1957 football season. Bi-County League member Alma joined for the league's final season in 1958, after which the Tri-Valley Conference ceased to exist. Three schools became members of the new Dairyland Conference, and two schools joined the Coulee Conference after it started sponsorship of football in 1959.

Membership timeline


DateFormat = yyyy
ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20
Period = from:1953 till:1959
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
PlotArea = right:30 left:0 bottom:50 top:5
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width:15 textcolor:black shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:lavender from:1953 till:1959 text:Blair
bar:2 color:lavender from:1953 till:1959 text:Eleva-Strum
bar:3 color:lavender from:1953 till:1959 text:Independence
bar:4 color:lavender from:1953 till:1959 text:Onalaska
bar:5 color:lavender from:1955 till:1959 text:Melrose
bar:6 color:lavender from:1955 till:1956 text:Sacred Heart
bar:7 color:lavender from:1956 till:1957 text:Whitehall
bar:8 color:lavender from:1958 till:1959 text:Alma
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:1953